The Insanity of Power
by northern.grunge
Summary: The Hatter had hoped that Wonderland would fix itself now that the Queen was off the throne, but when he and Alice return to Wonderland they find that something has gone amiss under Jack's rule. Hatter/Alice light on fluff T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: First Alice fanfiction I've written! I couldn't help but continue it, Hatter is too adorable! Please don't get confused, it starts just after the end then flashbacks to just after Alice leaves Wonderland, the it will go back to just after the end. Got it? Good. They will be going back to Wonderland for sure, there will not be mushy Hatter/Alice fluff (but there will be a good amount of utter cuteness that I just can't resist!). Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Alice? No. I do not. Go with your instincts and don't assume that I'm the owner of anything because in fact all I own is my flash drive, a few clothes, and some hair and make-up products. Yep. Also, I am assuming that the mother's name is spelled "Carroll" because that's how the writer's pen name was spelled.

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The Insanity of Power

_Chapter 1: I Missed You_

* * *

Alice's focus on Hatter's sudden reappearance was so singular that her mother's confused presence had slipped her mind. Hatter pulled away from Alice and acknowledged Carroll, then a quick glance back to Alice, taking note of her disappointed eyes.

He wasn't sure that coming here was a good idea in the first place, she seemed very willing to get rid of him, of course looking back on their last conversation he had probably overdone his aversion to her remaining in Wonderland. Yes… defiantly overdone. Now her mother stood in front of him waiting impatiently for an explanation. Not knowing how much Alice had told her, he stole a glance at Alice once more, pleading for help. To his relief she stepped forward.

"Mom, I… have some explaining to do, over dinner maybe?" Alice smiled weakly, hoping her mother wouldn't be opposed to having the Hatter for dinner. Carroll nodded, a perplexed look decorating her pale powered features, and strode into the kitchen.

When Alice and the Hatter where alone he smiled again, pointing two fingers into his flat hair with a brilliant expression, "What do you think? I figured my old garb might cause a riot…" Alice twisted her lips to the side calculatingly, then reached a hand up and messed his hair until it looked almost normal. She shook her head.

"I appreciate the attempt but won't you miss the hat?"  
"Ha! Unbelievable, all this time you were all I cared about, I followed you around and gave you the grand tour and helped you find your fa… boyfriend all at great personal risk and you're worried about me missing my hat?" He paused, biting his bottom lip in uncertainty. "Yeah… yeah I need that hat." Alice grinned and led him into the dining room.

The Hatter quickly decided he liked Carroll. The table before them was brimming with deliciously homemade food. He was ravenous, he hadn't eaten in two days. The last meal he saw was with Charlie in the ruins of the kingdom. After Alice left he hadn't even thought about food…

*****

_The day before…_

He watched her fall through the mirror, until she was just a memory. He couldn't handle this. Using his last bit of energy, he sprinted past the empty stock house, grabbed some clothes and washed out his hair, no need to scare the oysters. To avoid the muddle that was no doubt surrounding the looking glass he would wait until he was sure every one of them was safe on the other end.

After an hour of impatient toe-tapping and tossing out the bottles of emotions he decided everything should be clear. He grabbed the glass door of his wardrobe to use as a mirror, cringing at his dull appearance. He had to get back to Alice now though, he could never let her think he didn't want her around.

The station was, to his relief empty. Everyone congregated in the hospital now, working on solutions to the bottles emotions, trying to get their affairs in order, finding people, finding jobs. Anything to keep them busy he guessed. Wonderland was a fast-paced place.

When he was in sight of the looking glass he paused, it looked incredibly thick and solid. If he had hesitated any longer, he would have turned back around, eaten a lot of chocolate and cream cake and tried to forget. So instead, he charged at the looking glass, not remembering to take a breath in his determination to see Alice. He landed finally in a dark warehouse. He lay there a full minute with his eyes closed trying to get rid of the banging in his head, then decided he would very much like to stay in this world, just so he could avoid going back through the looking glass.

Once he realized how cold and uncomfortable the concrete floor was he stood up and looked around… he hadn't planned for this part. Finding her might be an issue. Someone must have found everyone who was brought through the looking glass. A large group of confused and scared humans would draw some attention. He would not find anything in the warehouse so he made his way out of the maze of hallways and into a bright alley. Eventually he came upon a tall white building, similar in shape to Wonderland's hospital, but without the ever present grey gloom.

Looking around momentarily at the life that filled even a hospital he was amazed, life like this hadn't been present in Wonderland for a century and a half. The receptionist was a pretty, young blond oyster with a starched uniform. He walked to the desk a little distracted, but forced himself to look at the lady. He was taken aback by her flirting. Her whole mood changed when he appeared, her eyes became sharp and flirty and she crossed her legs. He tried to keep his eyebrows from furrowing but he knew they did because she answered him with a bit of a frown.

"May I help you?"

"Looking for an Alice"

"Last name?" She didn't look up this time, she was typing away at her computer. This gave him a moment to think… she had said it once, he was sure. Then he found it, positive this was right.

"Hamilton. Alice Hamilton"

"Relationship?" The woman was focusing harder on the screen now. Hatter replied before he could stop himself, this façade would be too fun.

"Husband." He smiled politely at the young secretary as her frown grew. Without further question she gave him her room number.

Someone was sitting beside the bed that held Alice, she was asleep, midnight hair lying wildly all over her face. Hatter quietly knocked on the door and the woman sitting beside her rose slowly.

"Yes?" she questioned at the door without completely opening it.

"Hello, I'm," He paused for a moment, staring behind the woman's shoulder and trying to glimpse Alice as he thought. "David. You must be her mother?" He asked, holding out a hand.

"I am, what can I do for you?"

"Oh I'm the um," another pause, he ran through a mental list of occupations that he hoped would coincide with this world "construction worker who found your daughter, can I see her?" he asked, peering once again over her shoulder.

"She hasn't woken up yet. I'll give you our address though. She should be discharged tomorrow, come by around 12. She walked slowly back to the bed and grabbed a pen and slip of paper from her purse, after jotting down their address she handed it to Hatter and smiled, "Thank you for taking care of her." The she shut the door. Hatter closed his eyes, clutching the scrap of paper. _If you only knew the half of it. _He thought. Then, with nothing else to do until 12 tomorrow he left.

He quickly found their address, only tree blocks from the hospital. With the memory of it's location in his mind he walked off, wandering all night until the morning came, thinking of nothing but seeing her in the afternoon.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks to all of my "story alert"-ers and my reviewer! This chapter has some action, hope you all enjoy! ^.^

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the book Alice in Wonderland either. I read it sure, but I don't even own a copy of it. :\ Thought I'd mention that since I'll be using references…

* * *

The Insanity of Power

_Chapter 2: Four Shots_

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Carroll ate daintily and very little, Alice noticed her mother's lack of appetite long before Hatter did (he was primarily focused on the food). He looked up, slightly embarrassed and slowly lowered his fork, locking eyes with Alice. She winked at him and twirled her hand in a circular motion under the table, beckoning for him to explain Wonderland to her mother. He looked at her, at a loss for words, so she began.

"Mom, do you remember that book daddy used to read me? _Alice in Wonderland_?"

Her mother blinked suspiciously at Hatter.

"What is this about Alice?" her mother almost looked scared now, as if pleading with her daughter silently not to go on. Seeing Alice's resolve melt away Hatter stepped in, he always would be coming to her rescue.

"Ms. Hamilton, I know it's difficult to believe but there are places like Wonderland, in different realities, that can be accessed from here." He looked hopefully at Alice's mother. Carroll's mouth hung open slightly and she looked between the two with an air of indignity.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe you…" Then aside she whispered to her only daughter "Alice who is this man?"

"His name is Hatter, not David, and he's not a construction worker. He's a…" she glanced at Hatter "well temporarily unemployed. When I went searching for Jack I fell through a mirror in an old warehouse, on the other side was," she paused knowing just how senile she sounded to her only parent, "it was Wonderland. And that's where we met." Her mother's head shook tightly side to side.

"Please, finish you meal and leave." Her eyes were closed and her arms were folded neatly into her lap, crinkling and un-crinkling her napkin ever so slightly. Damp tears glistened from just under her eyelashes, it broke Alice's heart. Hatter's guilt overwhelmed him. He stood, nodded a thanks to Carroll for the meal, kissed Alice's neck just behind her ear and left. Alice's eyes glistened now too.

"Please Alice, you finally commit and it's to someone who needs to be committed! Just find yourself another nice boy like Jack and take a risk."

"I've already found one, and you're right, I should take a risk. Mom, I love you, but I can't loose him now as well. I'll be back." She tossed her napkin on the table and rushed outside, running along the same dark allies that would lead her to the mirror. She turned the last corner in the warehouse, a few feet away she saw his leather-clad back and rushed towards it, clinging on for her life as her weight pushed them both through the looking glass. He yelped in surprise but it was lost in the tunnel between Wonderland and the warehouse.

They landed, a loud moan escaped from both. Hatter rolled her carefully off of him. She crawled to her knees, noticing happily that on the way to the mirror Hatter had replaced his hat and now that they were both back in the dreary light that Alice had grown accustomed to he looked more normal. With a closed-lipped smile she breathed in the cool Wonderland air. It was damp and sweet, like a beautiful watercolor painting of singing flowers and tea parties that had been left in the rain until all the bright colors where grey ghosts of their former light.

Hatter rose from his back onto his elbows, observing their surroundings curiously. The looking glass that had been gold and shinning when he left had dulled to a tarnished bronze and grime lay over every surface. If Wonderland had had spiders he would've no doubt observed a multitude of stringy white webs.

"Alice, you shouldn't have followed me." He said as worry began to nag at him.

"I couldn't be separated from you again, it doesn't matter that mom doesn't believe, I have feelings for you." She said, hoping he would at least look at her this time.

"Alice! Something's wrong," he turned his gaze to her, she was shocked by the pleading in his eyes. She lowered herself to the ground so that they could face each other, she couldn't stand looking down at his troubled and insistent features. Her next sentence was on her tongue when something hit her from behind and knocked her into Hatter. She turned and moved aside quickly as he instinctively wrapped his arms around her, trying to come between Alice and this new being.

"Mom!" Alice yelped. Carroll sat before her, hair askew and powered makeup forming a cream with her sweat. Hatter stood to help Carroll up, Alice followed.

"Ms. Hamilton, are you going to be alright?" Hatter asked. She answered, mouth gaping, with an awed sigh.

"Oh my dear Alice," she pulled her daughter close and kissed her face. "forgive me, please. This is… incredible." Hatter looked cautiously at Carroll, then towards the mirror. Something had changed within its reflection. The looking glass had turned completely grey like the backing of a mirror. He poked an experimental finger at it. Solid.

"Alice, Ms. Hamilton… we should get going." Hatter whispered.

"Where would we go?" Replied Alice, apparently she was not taking Hatter's command seriously.

"Anywhere but here, come on." He began away from the grey wall at a quick walk, being aware that Carroll was out of breath already. Alice followed, her hand around her mother's arm, she tried to explain things now.

"You said he was 'Hatter' is he… you know… mad?" Carroll whispered the last word, hoping he wouldn't hear and take offense. Alice just laughed quietly

"No, he's quite sane. Most of the time."

"So he's not _the_ Mad Hatter." Carroll affirmed. Alice shook her head, and waited for her mother's next question, but it never came.

In its place Alice heard the deafening blast of a gun, four shots.

Shot one hit Carroll, snatching her life in an instant.

Shot two clanged against the grey backed looking glass.

Shot three charged at Alice and would've hit if Hatter hadn't grabbed her hand.

Shot four found its mark, embedding itself in Hatter's right shoulder.

He only held on tighter to Alice's hand though, pulling her faithfully away from her mother's resting form, the grey wall that had swallowed Alice's home, and from their shadowed attacker.

_To Be Continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Longest chapter title in the history of the world. ^.^ (Well, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration.)

* * *

The Insanity of Power

_Chapter 3: __"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"_

* * *

Alice's mind did back flips. She could barely recall the events that happened just seconds ago. At the moment the only certainty in her world was her hand in Hatter's. Her legs ran on auto-pilot, taken wherever Hatter led, and for a reason she couldn't remember her whole body was numb. A shot rang out behind them, followed by two more. These brought her back to her senses.

They skidded to a halt just before a sudden lack of terra firma. No one in the lower city would hear the gun shots, and by the state of things she doubted anyone would much care. She instinctively froze at the sight of the great distance between them and the ground, but training her eyes on Hatter she found she could be rid of most of the fear.

"Where are we headed?" She demanded shortly. His teeth were clenched so tightly he couldn't speak, so he jerked his head to their left. Alice saw their hiding place, an abandoned tea shop. "Their?" she pointed to the shop and Hatter nodded, letting go of her hand and using his to grasp his right shoulder. They took off and reached the building in seconds. Hatter dropped to the ground inside of the vacant shop and Alice joined him.

"Are you hurt?" Alice asked, rising to her knees.

"I just got shot!" Hatter's tone was higher than she had ever heard it. "What the hell is going on?" He asked as if she might actually know the answer. She was baffled.

"My mother... Hatter we have to go back!"

"Alice," he held his hand to her face, trying to convey his sympathy "can't. I'm so sorry." His words were irregular and tense though. He reluctantly turned his attention toward his right shoulder. He tried to take off his jacket one-handed while his head swam with questions, and fear for Alice, and regret, and an all encompassing pain and then, nothingness.

Alice tapped Hatter's face experimentally, he was out cold. Tears of frustration came now, not of mourning. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that they couldn't go back and get Carroll, so her mind created the idea that her mom was at home waiting for her. Every last inch of her tried to make her believe this was a nightmare, and in this dream-like situation she could forget about what just happened and focus on what had to happen now.

*****

Hatter awoke to find Alice curled around herself in a corner of the tea shop. She had pilfered a few musty carpets from the back of the store to use as a bed. He realized, slightly shocked, that his jacket and shirt had gone missing and all that replaced it was a tightly wrapped strip of cloth around his shoulder. He surveyed Alice once more, unsure of how to react. With a shrug he retrieved the bag of clothes he had brought with him out of Wonderland and found a (almost) clean set of clothes to change into.

They would eventually have to leave the city and find a way back to Alice's world, if anyone could help it was Jack Heart. Once Alice had rested they would have to risk it outside, but first he wanted to know just what had happened to Jack's plans of restoring Wonderland to its former fantastic-ness.

Hatter cautiously walked outside, three long stretches of land forked in front of the tea shop. He took the one to the right, knowing that about five feet below him was a newspaper vendor. Newspaper vendors in Wonderland were a concrete box with one thin slot that could produce a current newspaper through the use of flash-printing and automatic daily radio waves. The papers where practically self-efficient, when the Queen was on the throne papers were frequently filled with fanciful-looking advertisements for extracts and an occasional article on the dangers of taking emotions that was illegally slipped in by a gutsy journalist. If things had turned around at all since Jack was on the throne he would get a good idea of it from the paper.

The paper that he retrieved from the slot was a single page, the only ink on it was the elaborate header that held the title of the paper and the date. 45 years after he had left Wonderland. He raised his head and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh so huge that it made his wound sting. The blasted looking glass was faulty. He let the paper fall to the ground, it was swept up by the wind and carried to the lower city. Rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand, he returned to the shop. Alice was still asleep.

When she became conscious she was greeted by Hatter, who had casually propped himself up against a grey wall near-by.

"Morning sunshine. Sleep well?" he tried to sound positive, twirling his hat between two expertly swift fingers. He replaced it with his left arm, careful not to disturb the other.

"Hatter? Hatter!" She sat up quickly, perplexed at his presence. "How's your-"

"Shoulder?" He interjected, "Never been better." He lied flippantly as he stooped to help her off of her bed of carpet. She stared at him sadly.

"You're lying." He rolled his eyes lightly and strode towards the door, they had to get to Jack as soon as possible. "Thanks." Alice added as she followed behind him.

"For what?" He didn't stop. In his opinion she had nothing to thank him for.

"Lying." He almost smiled as she latched onto his left arm with her right. They exited the tea shop and Hatter took an immediate right. "Don't you have any idea what this is about? Who would shoot at us?" He stopped walking and pivoted to look at Alice.

"Je ne sais pas! The looking glass took us 45 years in Wonderlands future then closed and I just don't know why." Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of silvery movement. Alice saw it too and slowly they both turned their gaze towards its source. "But he might." Hatter's tired eyes gained a sparkle, this was progress.

_To Be Continued…_

Author's note: On the word grey/gray. I looked it up because I wasn't sure which to use and it appears that both are variants on the exact same word. I.e. color/colour, customize/customize ect. Grey is the older (and more British) spelling while gray is the American version. So since Hatter is clearly British I will use grey in this particular story ^.^ And about the bit of French… I figure Hatter's an eclectic guy, and we ARE in Wonderland… why not?


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